The proposed 230-kilovolt transmission line to northwest Las Vegas isn't being built because of the proposed federal detention center, Valley Electric Association Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted emphasized in a prepared statement Monday.

Husted said VEA already has the capacity to provide power to the federal detention center and added Corrections Corporation of America will pay for extending service to the site.

Husted responded to statements made in a lawsuit filed in federal district court by opponents of the federal detention center, Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community.

Curt Ledford, VEA general counsel, who along with co-op officials prepared the statement, disputed a charge that there's no electricity at the site. VEA has single-phase power available about 160 feet away from the detention center site, Husted said.

A statement in the lawsuit about the detention center placing a strain on VEA infrastructure was attributed to a comment made at a November 2008 board of directors meeting that Husted said was not a "meeting with residents," as CCSC stated in the suit.

"VEA did not indicate that providing power to the proposed correctional facility would cause a strain upon VEA's current infrastructure," Husted said, reading from the statement.

"Rather, VEA currently has sufficient distribution capacity in the area to serve the load, and transmission capacity is available as well," he said.

The lawsuit also states Pahrump has a declining population and there's a need to raise the cost of service to provide infrastructure, a reference to a proposed 8.5 percent residential rate increase which has now been deferred. The suit, filed by attorney Nancy Lord, asked who will pay for the new infrastructure.

Husted's said her comment is an apparent reference to the new 230 kilovolt transmission line connecting Pahrump with northwest Las Vegas. That project began in 1998 and will provide necessary capacity to comply with North American Electric Reliability Corporation and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations, he said.

"The proposed transmission line is not being installed to service the proposed prison alone but will be needed regardless of whether the correctional facility is ever built," Husted said.

The rate adjustment was also proposed to pay for the rising costs of wholesale power as well as for funding capital improvements, he said.

Husted noted under VEA corporate policy No. 17, members must pay 100 percent of the cost of extending power lines to their property. All new services are also subject to impact fees of $155 per kilovolt, he said.

"Therefore, the members of VEA will not be required to fund any costs associated with the proposed correctional facility's connection to the current VEA system," Husted's statement concludes.

Departing from his prepared speech, Husted, in addressing a handful of members of CCSC in the audience at the monthly board meeting, said, "Valley Electric has not taken sides of opinion on the detention center. But we are concerned that the facts concerning VEA and our system are true and accurate and reflected as such to the public."